Families who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks are set to become entitled to protected bereavement leave, under new amendments to the Employment Rights Bill.
These amendments form part of the biggest uplift to workers’ rights in a generation, set to benefit half of all UK workers. Hundreds of thousands of employees are impacted by pregnancy loss per year – one estimate for example suggests that there are around 250,000 pregnancy losses caused by miscarriages alone in the UK each year with a further 12,000 impacted by loss due to ectopic pregnancies.
The measures will give those experiencing pregnancy loss at any stage the legal right to take time off work to grieve, giving them much needed support at a difficult time.
Until now, statutory Parental Bereavement Leave has only been available to parents who lose a child under 18 or experience stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. This compassionate change acknowledges that the grief following pregnancy loss can be just as profound regardless of when it happens.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:
‘For many families including mine that have been affected by pregnancy loss, the decision around returning to work or taking sick leave to grieve properly can make an already painful experience even more difficult.
Grief doesn’t follow a timetable, and expanding rights to leave for pregnancy loss will ensure every family gets the time they need to heal without worrying about their job.’
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